This article first appeared on newrepublic.com
The 2014 Golden Globes made for thoroughly entertaining TV. Hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, unsurprisingly, struck the perfect tone, at once sharp-edged and good-natured. But on the whole – as awards shows go – it was a night of surprising self-awareness, when almost everyone seemed in on the joke of their own ridiculousness. So here are the ten highlights of a very meta, very enjoyable show:
1. Fey and Poehler’s sneaky you-go-girl humor, i.e:
- Fey: “Gravity is the story of how George Clooney would rather float away into space and die than spend one more minute with a woman his own age.”
- Poehler, after labeling Jennifer Lawrence’s face with her own name: “It’s hard to believe she’s a 42 year-old mother of two.”
- Fey: “August Osage County [proves] that there are still great parts in Hollywood for Meryl Streeps over 60.”
2. Fey and Poehler parodying the idea of intra-Hollywood female cattiness: the recurring joke of their fake feud with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, their introduction of Emma Stone (“Our next presenter told us earlier that she isn’t looking for new friends.”)
3. Jonah Hill and Margot Robbie from The Wolf of Wall Street ad-libbing their way through a teleprompter mistake in which they were showed the wrong script. Said Hill: “Let’s be real about it, that was not for us.”
4. This wink from Robert Downey Jr.:
5. The charming jitteriness of Spike Jonze’s acceptance speech for best screenplay (“…my agent, who gives me advice when I’m being anxious, like right now.”)
6. Jim Carrey: “Dying is easy, comedy is hard. I believe it was Shia LaBeouf who said that.”
7. The dumbfounded spoof of an acceptance speech that resulted from Andy Sandberg’s genuine shock at his win for Brooklyn Nine Nine: “The crew’s really good. The writers kick A. Everyone on my ‘team’.”
8. The bit in which Fey introduced her “adult son from a previous relationship” – Poehler in drag, who wandered through the crowd in search of a father, alighting on Idris Elba and Harvey Weinstein.
9. Cate Blanchett’s grateful, unaffected speech after winning best actress in a drama: “Can people at home hear this music, or do they just think you are suddenly having a panic attack?”
10. The cowboy swagger of Matthew McConaughey after his Dallas Buyers Club win: “This film was never about dyin’ it was always about livin’ and with that I say just keep.”
This article first appeared on newrepublic.com
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